Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had urged US President Donald Trump to provide more Patriot missiles and other air defense systems during a meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 22, as US envoys prepared for further talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskyy also raised the prospect of three-way talks between Russian, Ukrainian, and US teams taking place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on January 23-24.
Trump and Zelenskyy met for more than an hour at the World Economic Forum in Davos, in talks that Trump said were positive.
"The meeting was good with President Zelenskyy. We'll see how it turns out," Trump said during a brief doorstep opportunity with reporters at the conference center, adding his message to Putin was "The war has to end."
Shortly after Trump's comments, Zelenskyy took the floor to make a speech followed by a brief question-and-answer session in which he said his main message was Ukraine needed additional defenses against Russian drone and missile strikes that have left up to 1 million people without heat and light in sub-zero temperatures.
"My last words…to President Trump [were]: Don't forget about air defense, don't forget about Patriots," Zelenskyy said. "This is very important to us during this winter."
Groundhog Day
Zelenskyy has made such pleas many times, and he began and ended his speech by speaking of a global Groundhog Day in which crises led to strong words but no decisive action.
"Every forum like this one proves it. Just last year here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words, 'Europe needs to know how to defend itself.' A year has passed and nothing has changed."
This also applied to Iran, Zelenskyy said, where "there was so much talk…but they drowned in blood," and that it applied to stalled efforts to create an international criminal tribunal for Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Slamming a "lack of political will" in Europe, he also contrasted how US naval forces were seizing shadow fleet tankers while "Russian oil is being transported right along European shores" without being intercepted.
Zelenskyy concluded by saying, "Let's end this Groundhog Day," and that peace talks with Russia were now entering "the final mile."
That mile begins with a US delegation led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner heading to Moscow for talks with Putin later on January 22.
Earlier, Witkoff himself made upbeat remarks at a breakfast meeting saying that “we are at the end now. I’m actually optimistic.”
"I think we've got it down to one issue, and we have discussed iterations of that issue, and that means it's solvable. So, if both sides want to solve this, we're going to get it solved," Witkoff said.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Witkoff's optimism, noting merely that "discussion will continue on the Ukrainian settlement issue and other related topics."
The Kremlin said the talks would take place in the evening, and Witkoff said the US delegation would not stay overnight in Moscow – instead flying straight to the UAE.
However, there was no immediate word from Russian or US officials on the trilateral talks mentioned by Zelenskyy.
